


What I Like About You

by randomfandomimagine



Series: Imagines (Reader Insert) [44]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Sharing Clothes, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 10:05:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19665232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomfandomimagine/pseuds/randomfandomimagine
Summary: Requested by anon (Tumblr):oh i love jonathan!!i would like to request a rlly fluffly imagine, they’re BFF but they start to hang out with steve&nancy. Y/N thinks that Jonathan starts liking Nancy(he still likes her tho)&she talks with Nancy about it. Nancy has no idea how to help her besides telling her jonathan likes her, but Y/N doesn’t believe her&so she starts trying to be like Nancy so that Jonatan will notice her. and he does notice her change but he doesn’t like it& tells her to be herself bc that’s what he loves





	What I Like About You

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first and only Jonathan imagine I have written so far, so I hope you all enjoy it! :3

I knocked on the door of the Byers residence, looking forward to hanging out with Jonathan again. I patiently waited until I heard footsteps and someone finally opened the door.

The youngest Byer received me, looking up at me and showing me a friendly smile.

“Hi, Y/N!”

“Hey, Will” I smiled back at him. “Is your brother home?”

“Yeah…” Will looked over his shoulder and called out to his older brother. “Jonathan, Y/N is here!”

Looking at the end of the corridor, I saw him sticking his head out the door and a small smile forming on his lips when he saw me.

“Come in” He quietly told me, so much so that I hardly even heard him.

Walking alongside Will since he was walking back to his own room, I decided to make small talk with him. I always was as nice to Jonathan’s little brother as I could because I found him to be such a sweet boy.

“How are you, Will?” I gently poked him in the ribs.

“Doing good” He shrugged, still smiling at me.

“How about those Dungeons and Dragon sessions?” I had finally managed to learn the name of the game him and his friends always played. “Are you winning?”

“Yeah!” He excitedly replied just as we arrived at the end of the corridor.

“That’s good” I fondly messed up his hair. “See you around, kid”

“See you!” And then he walked into his room, closing the door behind him.

I then turned to Jonathan, whose smile had widened when he saw our interaction. I knew how much he appreciated me being so nice to Will and it was partly why I was. Besides, I wanted to, the Byers were lovely.

“Hi” I greeted my best friend casually, walking into his room like it was my own and plopping down on his bed.

“Hi” Jonathan replied lowly, joining me in the bed. “What are we doing today?”

“I don’t know” I sarcastically replied, knowing we mostly stayed at his place listening to music and chatting. “Let me see…”

He chuckled under his breath, finding my response amusing.

“We can go out today” My best friend offered, and just as I turned to him I saw him shrugging. “I know we always do the same thing”

“Hey, I enjoy it” I also liked going out and taking a walk, but I understood that he preferred to stay in not to walk into anyone from school. We weren’t exactly popular.

Jonathan then stood up and went to get his camera. I laughed a bit, knowing he was about to take pictures of me like he had so many times.

I stuck my tongue out at him as he put his camera to his face, silently telling him I didn’t mind. And so he took the photo as I lazily lied down on his bed.

“We can go to the record shop” He told me, playing around with his camera.

I noticed he didn’t make much eye contact, which was strange. Sure, he was shy and everything but we were friends, and we were so close! I couldn’t tell why exactly, but lately he had been behaving strangely.

I stared at him in deep thought, being a little scared of bringing up what I wanted to. I had been thinking about hanging out with him and Nancy, because after all they were both my friends. But Jonathan was pretty reserved, and besides, Nancy hung out with Steve a lot lately.

Honestly, I didn’t know where that urge to hang out with more people came from. I had so much fun with Jonathan alone, but it was maybe because of just that. Every time we were apart I missed him so much even if we saw each other every day and Joyce had no problem with me dropping by at their place to be with him.

“Everything okay?” His soft voice told me, making me realize I was still staring at him with a frown.

“Y-Yeah” His eyes were focused on me, and his concern was flustering me. So I jumped to my feet and showed him a bubbly smile. “We’ll go to the record shop”

“Okay…” It was him who frowned then, but didn’t insist.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah”

“Let’s go then” Hence, I ran out of his room to avoid talking about my thoughts and hoped he would follow me.

*

After going to the shop and checking out tons of vinyl records -David Bowie, The Clash, The Smiths, The Romantics, The Kinks and a whole lot of other ‘The’s-, we went to take a walk around Hawkins. It was pretty chilly, which reminded me why I preferred staying at Jonathan’s place most of the time. Just listening to his music, lying down on the bed, talking about anything and taking pictures.

“You always forget to bring a coat” Jonathan put his jacket over my shoulders with the tiniest of smiles.

“Thanks” I started to feel guilty for wanting to hang out with more people.

I just didn’t like having to meet them separately, and I had asked Nancy and she didn’t really have a problem with Jonathan coming along. It was Steve who I was worried about.

So even though taking a walk was my excuse to suggest it to Jonathan and maybe go where Nancy told me she would be at, I was starting to regret it and refused to ask him.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked me, eyeing me worriedly.

I finally reciprocated his glance, since I realized I had been pretty quiet and distant ever since we left his house.

“Um…” I asked myself whether I should tell him or not.

“Is something worrying you?”

“Well, I… I thought we could hang out with Nancy? You know she’s my friend too and… I always have to split up to meet you and her so…”

Jonathan’s brows furrowed for a moment, but then he nodded.

“Okay… We… We can give it a try” He shrugged a little, but it was the sweetness in his glance what almost made me melt. I knew he did it for me.

“Really?!” I lightened up, smiling big. “Great!”

I threw myself to hug him, forgetting for a moment how awkward it made him. If there was something we had in common was our weirdness and likes, but something we definitely didn’t have in common was that I was much more extroverted.

As soon as I noticed what I was doing and how his hands clumsily rested over my back, I urgently broke the hug and chuckled in embarrassment.

“Sorry… I… got excited”

“It’s alright”

We smiled at each other, and I decided to break the awkward moment by taking him by the wrist and getting going.

“C’mon! I know where Nancy is hanging out right now!”

*

Jonathan and I wouldn’t stop looking at each other, with subtle and meaningful even if meek glances. We felt out of place. We _were_ out of place.

In fact, while the others walked at the front, the both of us stood behind following them in silence. Only Nancy would look at me over her shoulder.

I should have known that if Nancy was alone the three of us could have had a good time, but not when Steve and especially Tommy and Carol were there too.

“If you’re feeling uncomfortable we can leave” I told Jonathan, huddling under his jacket because I was still slightly cold despite the warmth it provided me with.

“It’s okay…” He shook his head, dedicating me a shy look.

“I’m not having as much fun as I thought anyway…” I confessed, reciprocating the look.

Jonathan looked ahead for a moment, and upon following his glance I noticed he had been eyeing Nancy. Before I could comment on it, he interrupted me.

“We can go, but only if you want to”

“Let me talk to Nancy for a moment”

He nodded and waited for me while I went ahead and grabbed her by the arm.

“Hey, Nance” I called her, causing her to turn around to me. “Jon and I are leaving”

“Really? You don’t want to stay for a bit longer?” She was perfectly aware that we didn’t feel welcome, but I knew she felt bad for us.

“No… I have the feeling Steve doesn’t like us very much” With ‘Steve’ I meant the whole gang, they obviously didn’t like us.

“That’s not true!” She complained, frowning sadly. “I know he seems that way, but he’s actually really sweet”

Truth was Steve was somewhat friendly to us. It was the others who were mostly annoying and unkind. I absently looked over to Jonathan, who stood there with his hands in his pockets. He was looking at us, especially at Nancy.

The way he looked at her… Curiously, almost… fascinated. I couldn’t understand why, but it really bothered me, it made me jealous. I wanted him to look at me like that.

“Besides, I think Jonathan is starting to like you” I dragged my eyes away from him to focus them back on Nancy.

“What?” She chuckled. “Y/N, are you joking?”

“Believe me, I know him…” I replied sulkily, sneaking a glance towards him.

“I actually think he likes _you_ ” Nancy seemed to notice how much it bothered me.

“Yeah, right…”

“He gave you his jacket”

“He’s my friend, Nancy”

“Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

“Yeah… It’s not special”

“But you haven’t seen the way he looks at you when you’re not looking”

I looked back at him and realized his eyes were focused on us again, but this time he averted his gaze unlike the other time. I couldn’t tell from that distance, but I could have sworn there was a faint rose tone on his cheeks.

When I looked over at Nancy again, she was smiling.

“No” I shook my head, refusing to believe it not to be dissapointed later. “He doesn’t like me, it’s impossible! We’re friends!”

“I’m telling you, Y/N!”

“Bye, Nancy” I abruptly ended the conversation and left her side. Then I walked over to Jonathan and pulled at his arm so we would leave as soon as possible.

“What?” He said in his soft voice, letting me drag him along with me.

“Nothing, I just want to get away from those jerks” I lied, because in reality I wanted to get away from how I felt at that moment.

From how jealous it made me that Jonathan might like Nancy. From how flustered I became when she told me that he liked _me_. From the thought that maybe Jonathan and I weren’t just friends, or I didn’t want us to be only that.

“Want me to walk you home?”

“Yeah”

“Sure” Jonathan was looking over his shoulder, watching Nancy walk away from us.

I knew him well enough, after being his friend for so long. He liked her, without a doubt. And I hated that.

The question was… did _I_ like him that way?

*

I had never been so nervous to hang out with Jonathan. What was going on?!

All I wanted was for him to notice me differently, like he noticed Nancy. In fact, maybe I should behave more like her. Be more like her in general.

For just one day, I decided to change a little bit and see his reaction. Instead of my jeans, converse, bands T-Shirt and plaid shirt I decided to wear a dress. That would definitely catch his attention. I also had in mind to be a little meeker and not so extroverted.

So when he came by in his car to pick me up I greeted him with a somber and small wave.

“H-Hi” As he uttered it, I could immediately notice his astonishment as his eyebrows twitched.

“Hey” I softly said, climbing in the copilot seat next to him.

As usual, I was about to touch his arm in one of my recurrent affectionate gestures, but I restricted myself realizing what I was doing and that I was supposed to act less like myself.

Completely bewildered, Jonathan eyed me up and down. Still frowning, he opened his mouth to speak. At first he didn’t utter any sounds, but then he piped up.

“You’re wearing a dress” It was definitely a first.

“Yup” I tried not to visibly cringe as I anxiously played with the hem of my skirt.

“You’re acting strange lately” He observed, his eyes still glued to me.

“Well, you too, mister! You-“ I cut myself in time, avoiding one of my usual playful and sassy responses. “I mean… No, I’m not”

“What’s going on, Y/N?” I had been asking myself that for a while now.

“Nothing! Can you please start the car already?”

“Alright…” He finally got ahold of the steering wheel and did as I asked him.

Not that he seemed any less confused.

*

I was trying really hard, but my plan wasn’t working. First of all, because Jonathan didn’t seem to like me any more because I wore a dress or acted shyly. I supposed I just wasn’t Nancy.

But second and most importantly, because it was getting on my nerves! I just couldn’t be restricting myself like that, I needed to express myself and playfully talk back to him and tease him and softly display my affection toward him.

I could feel his eyes on me as we walked back to the car after talking a walk around the mall. We were walking in silence, but I could tell both our minds were racing.

I was also uncomfortable, and not only because of my forced behavior but because I was freezing. If I usually got cold with my usual outfits, a dress wasn’t helping much.

A warm and comforting weight fell over my shoulders, and when I looked I saw Jonathan showing me that small and kind smile he always dedicated me.

“If you’re so cold, why don’t you just ask for my jacket?” He chuckled a little.

“Because you always give it to me anyways” I couldn’t help but to joke, albeit if in a much softer voice than usual. “Even if I always forget to give them back to you and you have to get them back at my place”

“I don’t mind doing that”

“I know…”

Another silence settled, in which we smiled at each other like we always did. Then Jonathan frowned, and I knew that was the expression he always put before he wanted to address something important. He was going to ask me about my sudden change.

“You’re different today” He observed, pretty subtly.

“It isn’t working out, though…” I sighed, frustrated and actually tired. I had been eating my head so much lately, always thinking about him. About us.

“Why the change?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Jon…”

“I thought we always understood each other”

“And we do, but… this is complicated”

“Don’t we tell each other everything?” His voice was so soft and sounded so concerned and interested, it was making me nervous that he cared so much about me, and it was confusing me!

“Just forget it, okay?” I sternly crossed my arms over my chest and refused to look at him even if I could feel his eyes burning in my skin.

“Please, Y/N” His hand gently wrapped around my arm and stopped me from walking. “Tell me, I wanna know”

Resigned, I looked into his eyes. Those warm brown eyes convinced me.

“I’m jealous, okay?!” I exclaimed, finally letting out all that which I had been bottling up.

“J-Jealous?”

“Yeah! The way you look at Nancy… You never pay that much attention to me”

“That’s not true, you’re… And Nancy is…”

“I don’t mean it like that” He meant that he hung out with me and he was closer to me than he was to Nancy, but it wasn’t what was bothering me. “Jon, it’s just…”

I averted my eyes yet again, closing my hands into fists out of pure frustration.

“I see…” His hand left my arm, and his demeanor changed drastically from interested to absent.

Curious, I looked at him and examined his expression. It was one of the few times when I had no idea what he was thinking. Maybe he realized I was talking about the fact that he clearly liked Nancy.

“You know that song I showed you by ‘The Romantics’? ‘What I Like About You’?” He asked me out of the blue.

“Yeah…” I didn’t understand why he brought that up all of a sudden. “I love that song, but what does it have to do with anything?”

“Well… I like it because it reminds me of you, every time I hear it” His lips curved up in that way he softly smiled.

“Jon…” I mumbled, moved by that confession.

Butterflies flew inside my stomach with the revelation that he liked me. Or should I say, liked me back.

“I like you because you are yourself and don’t really care what other people think” Jonathan nervously licked his lips and passed a hand through his hair. “That’s what I like about you, that you’re unique and like the same music I do, that you understand me and let me be myself and… I’m my happiest with you because we always have so much fun together…”

Not really knowing what else to say and struggling to find words to further explain himself, Jonathan stared at me in expectation. He visibly gulped when I opened my mouth to reply.

Before I did, I dedicated him a somewhat flirtatious and playful look.

“Not because I hold you tight or I really know how to dance?” I told him, quoting the lyrics of the song in a joking manner. “When I go up down jump around think about true romance?”

“That too” He sighed in relief, knowing what my response meant. “But I really enjoy being with you because of the way you make me feel”

“So you never wanna let me go and I make you feel alright?” I smirked a little, teasing him even further. Getting back to my true self.

“Stop it” Jonathan chuckled in the end, rolling his eyes a little.

“That’s very sweet” I told him, turning more serious even if still just a tiny bit playful.

“I’m serious, Y/N, you shouldn’t change” Jonathan dared to slowly reach out to hold my hand, which I gladly allowed. “And not just for me, for anyone, you’re great the way you are and… You just look great in your own clothes, and you’re great and I love your personality and-“

He was repeating himself and starting to ramble a little, so I decided to intervene. Only if it was as an excuse to kiss him because suddenly I realized how much I wanted to do it and couldn’t hold myself for any longer.

I cupped his cheek and urgently smacked my lips on his. I had thrown myself to him with so much more force than I intended, but his hands were there to steady me by the waist when we collided.

After the initial moment of shock, Jonathan reciprocated the kiss and lightly tightened the grip of his hands on my waist. Our lips moved in synch for a few more seconds until we broke for oxygen.

Slowly distancing ourselves from the other, we locked eyes. Jonathan grinned, and I’ve never seen him smile so big. I smiled in return.

He then hugged me, something he hadn’t openly done before. Or at least this tightly and with his much love. Nonetheless, it was perfect.


End file.
